Native American religion

Native American religion
CC BY 4.0 · source
Name	Native American religion
Alt	Sun Dance ceremony
Caption	Sun Dance, early 20th century
Type	Indigenous religion
Main ethnic groups	Lakota, Navajo, Cherokee, Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, Pueblo peoples
Scripture	Oral traditions
Practices	Ceremonies, rites, offerings

Native American religion is an umbrella term for the diverse spiritual systems practiced by Indigenous peoples of North America, spanning hunter-gatherer, horticultural, and urban communities. These traditions include linked cosmologies, ritual cycles, and specialist roles embedded within nations such as the Sioux, Apache, Choctaw, Seminole, Blackfoot, Haudenosaunee, Tlingit, Yurok, Zuni, and Hopi. Practices persist alongside encounters with entities such as the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Roman Catholic Church, and movements like the Pan-Indianism and American Indian Movement.

Overview and Terminology

Scholars in fields such as anthropology, ethnology, religious studies, history, and linguistics analyze terms like "ceremonialism", "medicine", and "tradition" when describing beliefs among groups including the Cree, Anishinaabe, Choctaw, Muscogee, Osage, and Nez Perce. Tribal terminologies—examples include Lakota concepts, Diné terms, and Maya-language analogues—often resist translation used by institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution or the National Park Service. Legal frameworks from cases before the United States Supreme Court and statutes like the American Indian Religious Freedom Act shape discourse alongside tribal constitutions, treaty histories, and archival collections held by the Library of Congress.

Cosmology and Beliefs

Many nations articulate layered cosmologies featuring beings such as trickster figures (e.g., Coyote, Raven), creator figures in traditions among the Hopi, Diné, Pueblo, and Haudenosaunee, and animacy seen in landscapes like the Mississippi River, Colorado River, Great Lakes, and Boreal forest. Clan systems among the Tlingit, Haida, Cherokee, and Haudenosaunee interweave origin narratives with kinship practices discussed in studies at institutions such as Harvard University, UC Berkeley, and the American Anthropological Association. Cosmological cycles inform seasonal ceremonies tied to places like Pueblo plazas, Plains Indians buffalo hunts, and riverine salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest.

Rituals and Ceremonies

Ceremonial forms—examples include the Sun Dance, Ghost Dance, Powwow, Potlatch, Hopi Snake Dance, Kachina rites, and Powhatan seasonal rites—feature communal singing, drumming, dance, and offerings. These ceremonies intersected with historical events such as the Wounded Knee Massacre and policy responses by agencies like the Bureau of Indian Affairs and missions of the Roman Catholic Church and Mormonism. Ethnographers from the Heffter Research Institute to the British Museum recorded rituals, while tribal oral historians and elders maintain protocols for ceremonial access, regalia, and songs.

Sacred Practices and Spiritual Specialists

Roles such as medicine people, shamans, priests, roadmen, chanters, pipe carriers, and clan elders appear across nations including the Lakota, Navajo, Pueblo, Makah, and Miccosukee. Training and knowledge transmission occur via apprenticeships, vision quests, fasting, and dream incubation tied to sites like Bear Butte, Mount Shasta, and Mesa Verde National Park. Interaction with external institutions—tribal councils, universities, and courts—has influenced recognition of practitioner authority in contexts involving the National Congress of American Indians and litigation under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Regional and Tribal Traditions

Distinct regional complexes include Plains traditions (e.g., Sioux, Cheyenne), Southwest traditions (e.g., Navajo, Zuni, Hopi), Northeast traditions (e.g., Haudenosaunee, Wampanoag), Pacific Northwest traditions (e.g., Tlingit, Haida, Kwakwaka'wakw), Arctic and Subarctic traditions (e.g., Inuit, Athabaskan peoples), and Southeast traditions (e.g., Cherokee, Seminole). Each regional grouping links to material culture in museums such as the Field Museum, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and the National Museum of the American Indian, as well as archaeological sites like Chaco Canyon, Cahokia, and Poverty Point.

Impact of Colonization and Syncretism

Contact events—European colonization, missionary campaigns by the Jesuits, Franciscan Order, Spanish Empire, British Empire, and later U.S. expansion through actions like the Indian Removal Act and military engagements—reshaped spiritual life, producing syncretic forms blending Indigenous belief with Roman Catholic Church practices, Protestant missions, and new movements exemplified by the Ghost Dance. Federal policies including allotment under the Dawes Act and boarding school systems affected transmission of ceremonial knowledge, provoking responses organized through entities like the American Indian Movement and legal petitions to the United States Congress.

Contemporary Revival and Legal Issues

Revival movements among nations such as the Cherokee, Hopi, Navajo Nation, Lakota, and Pueblo peoples emphasize language reclamation, ceremonial revitalization, and cultural education in partnership with institutions like tribal colleges, the Smithsonian Institution, and nonprofit organizations. Legal protections—cases before the United States Supreme Court, statutes like the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, and consultations under the National Historic Preservation Act—intersect with controversies over access to sacred sites (e.g., Bear Ears National Monument, Mount Graham International Observatory) and repatriation under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Contemporary leaders, activists, and scholars from universities such as University of New Mexico promote collaborative stewardship, ethical curation, and transmission of practices to future generations.

Category:Religions of indigenous peoples of the Americas